


Half Moon

by wheesus



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Best Friends!AU, F/F, HappyChaeyoungDay, fluff so much fluff with domestic jeongchaeng, minor mention of nayeon and jihyo, nojams, roommates!AU, this is my longest one shot ever and i feel very accomplished i might cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 09:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14398737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheesus/pseuds/wheesus
Summary: Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon, childhood best friends and currently flatmates, declare war over their new neighbor's heart.[original prompt: a love triangle where jeongyeon and chaeng are best friends, and both in love with mina. each of them is faced with the dilemma if she loves her best friend more to let her have mina or mina more. then they realize some shit.]





	Half Moon

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday to the most beautiful and talented bby ghei ever. i love you to the moon and back and your smile cures my depression. stay healthy and happy, and most of all, true to yourself, just the way you are.
> 
> also, special thanks to miss yenny for proof reading most of this and for being the uwu-est cute human ever, and to nojamdoodles for doing god's work.

 

“One to Zero, Son Chaeyoung!” Jeongyeon screams the moment she enters the apartment, instantly gaining the attention of her flatmate.

“You sly bear! What did you do?” Chaeyoung screams back, her playlist is a bit too loud for a background music.

Jeongyeon heads to the kitchen, putting down the grocery bags she was carrying, before walking to their shared stereo and turning the volume down.

 

“You might want to play a sadder song to _celebrate_ your loss,” she teases, taking a seat right next to the younger girl.

“Just spill!” Chaeyoung snarls, forever a bit too full of anger for someone her size.

“I met her at the elevator-”

“So what? That doesn’t count as a point!”

“Let me finish, dwarf!”

 

Chaeyoung hops off, just to be able to glare Jeongyeon down, before she presumes her position on the couch. “Go on.”

“Anyways, we talked.”

“You what?” The smaller girl yelps.

“Geez! She could hear us through the walls if you keep being a loud bitch, you know?”

“Sorry, your majesty. Please don’t let me hinder you from relaying the very important events that just took place.”

“We talk-” Jeongyeon starts again, only to be cut off by a sulking Chaeyoung muttering, “just for your information, if she could hear me through the walls, she sure as fuck heard you scream _One to Zero Son Chaeyoung."_ She shakes her head from a side to another, before finishing, “not cool.”

 

“You know what’s not cool?” Jeongyeon barks back, “your three remaining brain cells cutting me off every other word!”

 

Chaeyoung smiles sheepishly, and Jeongyeon doesn’t know if she wants to tackle her in a headlock or ruffle her hair. She just ends up sighing.

 

“Okay, sorry.” Chaeyoung sounds more apologetic this time, and Jeongyeon unwinds, laying back against the back of the couch.

“She offered to help me with the grocery bags, -god is she so sweet-, and she insisted through my very polite refusal, so I let her hold the bag filled with yogurt bottles.”

 

“You didn’t,-”

“Yes I did,” Jeongyeon smiles smugly, and Chaeyoung jumps at her with light punches.

“I can’t believe you told _our_ crush that I am addicted to freaking yogurt! You don’t even let me touch these damned yogurt bottles you yogurt monster.”

 

They stare at each other for a couple of seconds, nothing but the Hyukoh song playing in the background filling the silence, before they erupt in a fit of laughter.

Jeongyeon rolls down to the floor, holding her stomach, as Chaeyoung throws her head back, her mouth wide open, and her dimple in full display.

They don’t calm down until the next song starts, and they sit there, -Jeongyeon on the floor, and Chaeyoung on the couch-, smiling at each other.

“The poor girl just moved in a couple of days ago, and she probably wants to leave already because of her noisy neighbors,” the youngest of the two states, earning a nod from the older girl.

“That’s still a one to zero, Chae.” Jeongyeon insists.

“I acknowledge it. But the tables will turn, miss Yoo. Watch me.”

 

The older girl just laughs, getting up to her feet and walking to the kitchen, followed by her flatmate. They work in silence, a feature both appreciate in their friendship, as they empty out the grocery.

Chaeyoung holds the paper bag filled with yogurt bottles of all flavors, and hums. “You should stop telling people that I am the one addicted to yogurt, you know?”

Jeongyeon just hums.

“Your last girlfriend, who was it? Hm, Minatozaki?”

“Kim.” Jeongyeon corrects.

“Yes, Kim. She thought you were living with your 15-year-old cousin.”

“It didn’t help that the first time she came over you were wearing those yellow pajamas from when you were fifteen.” Jeongyeon teases.

“I wasn’t fifteen!”

“Chaeng, I bought these for you as a welcome to high school gift. You were fifteen.”

The youngest sighs in defeat.

“I just love them, hmph..”

Silence falls upon them once again; Chaeyoung is busy loading the small bottles in the fridge, as Jeongyeon picks out the ingredients for dinner, with the softest smile adorning her face.

 

-

 

“I think I like her.” Chaeng shrieks, walking into Jeongyeon’s room. The latter is on her stomach, putting together a number of colorful lego cubes.

“I thought you already did? I mean, we’re keeping points of our interactions with her!” Jeongyeon pinpoints, gesturing at the stick-it note hanging over her desk: _shithead: 4 nuthead: 3._

“And I’m a point ahead,” she adds, smiling proudly.

(The smile doesn’t reach her eyes, and Chaeng is too busy fretting over her new discovery to notice.)

“No, no. It’s not the same.” The brunette mumbles, making her best friend abandon her legos and sit up.

“What’s wrong?” The older girl asks, concerned.

“It used to be this stupid crush, you know? That’s hyped up by our entire game of who wins her heart and sweeps her off her feet, but..”

“But?”

Chaeyoung sits down facing her.

“It feels different. I was on my way out this morning, and met her at the front door, downstairs. She looked sleepy but still as expensive as ever, and she smiled at me. And, my heart did this thing, like it’s about to drop down to the pit of my stomach. It was beating faster than usual and my ears were all red and hot in a second. I somehow managed to smile back at her, though I bet it looked weird,” she giggles humorlessly, “and I’ve been thinking about it all day. I think I really like her.”

 

Jeongyeon silently pulls her in for a hug, patting her head gently. She doesn’t have an explanation for the lump in her throat, other than worrying about her small friend.

“Like, really?”

Chaeyoung just hums.

“And what’s wrong with that?” Jeongyeon coos, trying to get a grasp of where the problem lays.

“So many things.” The girl in her embrace mutters, without further entertaining the idea. Jeongyeon thinks she understands. Their entire little game, for instance.

 

-

 

Their neighbor, who now has a name to her pretty face —Mina, stops by one day to ask if they have an electrical malfunction too.

Jeongyeon opens the door, slurping on a strawberry yogurt. She chokes on the dairy product, and has to run back to the kitchen, tripping on a shoe that she assumes is Chaeyoung’s, for a glass of water.

Chaeyoung peeks from the living room, blushing the moment she sees who the intruder is; and she shyly invites her in.

 

“Don’t mind jeongyeon. She’s weird.” She jokes, ushering Mina to the couch. The place is lit up with a couple of candles, and there’s indie rock music playing from one of the roommates’ phones. Mina recognizes the song, having heard it multiple times through the thin walls separating their apartments.

 

The coffee table is occupied with what looks like a sketchbook, a dozen of pencils, and an open book turned upside down not to lose the page. Mina tries to link each of the abandoned objects to their owners, all the while amazed by how they are immersed in such activities in the candle-lit darkness.

She quirks an amused eyebrow when she discerns the outline of the unfinished drawing on the sketchbook. Squinting a bit more, she succeeds in recognizing the features of the pretty face in the picture, and she nods to herself.

 

Jeongyeon comes back with a sheepish smile, apologizing for the misoccurance. They assure her that it happens every now and then, the electrical malfunction, -and Jeongyeon’s malfunction as well. Nothing to worry about.

 

“It usually takes an hour or two to fix it. You can stay with us if you’re afraid of the dark.” Jeongyeon teases, while Chaeyoung suffers silently next to her, sneakily pinching her on the side. _How can I survive an hour or two?_

 

They offer their neighbor a drink, and she politely tells them she’d come back some other time for that.

“Ray is the one afraid of the dark, actually. I bet he’s freaking out home alone,” she jokes, “I have to go keep him company.”

 

Chaeyoung heaves a sigh once she leaves.

 

“Ray?” Jeongyeon asks from across the room, and Chaeyoung can’t help but chuckle at the look on her face.

“Her dog. A really sweet old pup if you get to know him.”

 

-

 

“We don’t even know if she’s into girls!” Jeongyeon blurts out one night, in the middle of a movie the younger girl has picked.

She's nestled in the warmth of Chaeyoung's embrace, who's subconsciously playing with her short locks as her eyes are trained on the t.v. screen.

The question comes out of nowhere, and Chaeyoung finds herself wondering if Jeongyeon has been thinking about their pretty neighbor the entire time. Is the movie she picked that uninteresting?

 

“We don’t know if she’s not.” She answers calmly.

 

She can feel Jeongyeon looking up at her, but doesn't look back.

 

-

 

The stick-it note in Jeongyeon’s room has the numbers scratched off, replaced with _6 to 8_.

She has lost a point for choking like an idiot in front of Mina. Chaeyoung gained 5 due to what her best friend loves to call _pure luck and good timing_.

 

“ _Call it what you want, shithead. I’m two points ahead, and you’re just jealous._ ”

“ _You’ve got all that game from me, Chae. Don’t deny!_ ”

“ _I won’t deny that I’ve learned from the best. Or better say, who was once the best._ ”

 

-

 

Jeongyeon catches up with the points when Mina asks her if she wants to join her and Ray’s walk in the park.

The girl, who was coming home from her part-time job, giddily accepts.

The stroll around the park doesn’t last long, for Ray is a bit too old and gets tired quickly. At some point, they just sit down on a rusty bunch and watch the old pup lazily bump heads with a newly made friend, -a tortoise which Jeongyeon mentions has been living around the park for a couple of years now.

 

She comes home to a Chaeyoung hitting the books. She’s wearing her round specs, some ugly Christmas sweater, and a pair of shorts that surely shouldn’t be worn in February. But Jeongyeon doesn’t ask, because she knows Chaeyoung works better when she’s feeling cold. Still, she secretly turns on the heater, hoping it would save the younger one from catching a cold.

 

“You’re home?” Chaeyoung states more than asks, not looking up from her textbook on the kitchen countertop.

“Caramel macchiato. Your favorite, princess.” Jeongyeon poses the cup of steaming coffee next to Chaeyoung, before she disappears into the shower. The younger girl takes a glance at the plastic cup, pretty positive that she didn’t ask Jeongyeon to get her coffee on her way home. She doesn’t catch herself smiling like an idiot for the following five minutes.

 

-

 

There is a good reason why Chaeyoung skipped a grade back in high school, and that’s because she is a hard-worker, and a small genius. She has her weird techniques, -like studying in the kitchen when she’s home alone; or even wearing shorts in winter-, that’s for sure, but she manages. And Jeongyeon is forever proud of her.

 

They didn’t grow up together. Jeongyeon is three years older, and they don’t even come from the same neighborhood. However, they went to the same elementary school, and Jeongyeon might’ve had to physically restrain 6-year-old Chaeyoung - _forever a bit too full of anger for someone her size_ -, from throwing hands a couple of times, often tending to whatever bruises she had obtained.

 

When people ask them about how they became friends, Jeongyeon would answer _damned luck and bad timing._ She’d still do it all over again if she had a choice.

 

-

 

“You’ll catch a cold, going around the house in just towels at this time of the year.” Chaeyoung scolds Jeongyeon, who’s standing by the fridge, downing a bottle of yogurt. She only catches herself staring a bit too long at Jeongyeon’s bare collarbones when the latter sneers, “says you.”

 

Chaeyoung looks down at her shorts, her glasses sliding down her nose as she does. “I’m wearing a sweater.”

“Which is ugly, by the way.”

“I lost a bet!”

“The bet didn’t include you wearing it, genius.”

The younger girl scoffs, ignoring her best friend to focus back on studying.

 

“At least go dry your dumb blonde hair.” She finally says after moments of silence.

Jeongyeon complies almost immediately, but she halts in her tracks to ruffle Chaeyoung’s short brown locks, who puffs her cheeks in passive protest.

“Mina says hi, by the way.”

“You saw her?”

“Yeah. We took Ray for a walk around the park. I guess that means 2 points to Gryffindor.” Jeongyeon sticks her tongue out, pointing at herself.

“Correction! Slytherin, you snake.”

Jeongyeon clutches her chest and gasps in mock offense.

 

-

 

She is home alone when the bell rings, echoing through the emptiness that the absence of Jeongyeon has created. The older girl has went back home for the weekend, and Chaeyoung wasn’t expecting any visitors.

She gets off the kitchen stool, and heads to open the front door, expecting an angry neighbor ready to complain about the loud _punk_ music she _forces_ the entire floor to listen to, instead she’s greeted by Mina smiling shyly at her.

 

And that’s how Chaeyoung ends up babysitting Ray for two days, thanking whoever is up there that the pup is too old to make a fuss and distract her from studying.

 

It is also how Mina asks her out for lunch, as a thank you for taking care of her dog while she was out of the city for some group project.

 

-

 

“I go away for two days, Son Chaeyoung, two days, and you’ve already got yourself a date!” Jeongyeon howls at the news.

“First! It’s not a date; just a friendly ‘t _hank you for looking after my dog’_ lunch. Second! You’re just mad cause now I’m taking over your girl crush title, huh?” Chaeyoung counters back, her mouth full of the kimchi Jeongyeon’s mother has sent.

 

The blonde doesn’t answer, and Chaeyoung gestures for her to elaborate. She’s looking down, scratching the back of her neck nervously, and the younger girl recognizes this too well.

“You _like_ like her!” She chokes on her food. Jeongyeon just laughs, a blush spreading up her neck and onto her cheeks.

 

-

 

“You’re wearing these for your date?” Jeongyeon leans against the door frame, watching Chaeyoung stack her books in her backpack.

“It’s not a date.” Chaeyoung tells her for the nth time, sounding a bit down for someone who’s going to have lunch with the girl she likes.

“Are you okay?” The blonde asks, concern laced with her words.

“Maybe we should stop this,” Chaeyoung mumbles, _before one of us gets hurt_.

 

“Shut up and go get the girl, Chaeng!” Her best friend responds with a sense of finality, “also, put this on!” She hands Chaeyoung her black leather jacket, - _the_ black leather jacket-, tapping her butt a couple of times before walking out of her room.

 

Chaeyoung watches the reflection of her retreating figure on the mirror leaning against her wall. She just sighs.

 

-

 

“Don’t you have classes today?” Chaeyoung asks, putting on her boots.

“Just a lecture that I’m surely skipping. I hate Mondays, and I'm still tired from yesterday's trip back from home.” Jeongyeon screams from the couch.

 

“You hate every weekday.”

 

Chaeyoung thinks she hears the older girl go into a coughing fit after she closes the front door behind her.

 

-

 

Jeongyeon gets up from the couch, and with heavy steps, she shuffles to her room.

She stands by her desk for a couple of seconds, eyeing the stick-it note pinned to the wall. She faintly smiles, before ripping it off and throwing it in the trash bin.

She feels her knees giving up on her, and Chaeyoung’s words ring in her head as she starts coughing again, “Y _ou’ll catch a cold, going around the house in just towels at this time of the year._ ”

“You’re not my mom,” Jeongyeon responds to the voice in her head, slumping down her bed and pulling the covers tight around her body.

 

It’s around noon when she wakes up, sweating profusely, and her skin burning hot. She doesn’t find any strength in her to leave her bed, and barely manages to get a hold of her phone. She texts the first person who comes to her mind who is not Chaeyoung.

 

-

 

Their order has just come when Chaeyoung’s phone rings. She excuses herself, rolling her eyes at the caller ID, before picking up.

 

“ _kid, where are you?_ ” The girl on the other line asks.

“Hello to you too, Nabongs.” Chaeyoung greets nonchalantly.

“ _I don’t know why Jeongyeon called me instead of calling you, but listen, my boss is an asshole who won’t let me take a break for even an hour-”_

Chaeyoung snickers when she hears Jihyo screaming, “ _I can hear you, Nayeon._ ”

 _“Anyways, I’m sorry to be interrupting whatever you are doing right now, but I think the dumb bitch, who happens to be your flatmate, is dying of a cold. So could you please get her some meds on your way home?_ ”

 

Chaeyoung is almost up on her feet in a second, if not out of respect for the girl sitting across from her in the diner.

 

“Sure. Thank you for telling me, Nabongs.” She hangs up, and scratches the back of her neck nervously as she looks at Mina, -a habit she has caught from Jeongyeon over the years.

 

“Is everything okay?” Her _friendly_ date asks, catching on the worried demeanor of the younger girl.

 

“Hum, I think Jeongyeon is down with a fever, and it seems like I have to go check on her. I’m so sorry, Mina. She didn’t even call me, but our other friends are busy and they called me instead to buy her some meds and all. I’m sorry,-”

 

Mina’s hand is covering hers, cutting her off with an understanding smile playing on her lips. “It’s okay. We can take the food with us, and maybe order something for Jeongyeon too.”

 

Chaeyoung thanks her for her apprehension, apologizing a hundred and one times on their way back to their apartment building.

 

-

 

The bright light coming from the hallway makes Jeongyeon squint.

“Nayeon?” She asks, although the silhouette of the girl approaching her is much smaller than Nayeon’s.

“You must be really dying not to recognize me,” Chaeyoung remarks, kneeling down next to Jeongyeon’s bed. She sets the bag of medicines on the nightstand, before bringing her hand up to her best friend’s forehead. The latter groans, pleased with the contact of Chaeyoung’s cold palm with her burning skin.

 

“Damn, this is more serious than I thought it is!” Chaeyoung gets to her feet, scurrying out to grab a glass of water.

“Why didn’t you call me?” She asks once she’s back into the room, and Jeongyeon just groans again. “Are you onto some death wish or something?” She scolds, leaning down to help the older girl sit up.

She pops the different pills onto her palm and holds the cup of water close to Jeongyeon’s lips.

 

“It could’ve gotten so bad if Nayeon didn’t call me, you know?” Chaeyoung says again, sounding like a lunatic with the lack of response from her best friend.

“I didn’t want to ruin your date,” Jeongyeon finally mutters, not bothering to open her eyes and look at the younger girl.

 

“Yeah, so die on me instead!” She pours some cough syrup into a spoon, and coaxes the older girl to open her mouth with an “aah!”

 

She leaves the room again, to grab a towel and a bucket of cold water, mouthing a “sorry” to Mina.

 

“Did you eat anything?” Chaeyoung asks, soaking the towel in water, before wringing it, and gently rubbing the sick girl’s face. Jeongyeon shakes her head.

Chaeyoung repeats the action, and with utter care, she lays the cold towel on Jeongyeon’s forehead before she stands up to leave. The blonde holds onto her hand, weakly pulling her to sit down with a whine.

“Where are you going?” She asks with a hoarse voice.

“To get you food, obviously.”

“I don’t want to eat. Just stay here,” Jeongyeon whimpers, interlacing her fingers with Chaeyoung’s.

 

“You need to eat, Jeong. Plus, you smell like cough syrup.” The younger girl fake gags, and Jeongyeon just rolls her eyes.

 

-

 

Against the wall of the hallway, leans Mina, with her hands in her pockets, and a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She chuckles softly at the two girls bantering in the darkness of what she assumes is Jeongyeon’s room.

She notices their intertwined fingers, and their proximity, and shakes her head slightly at the fact that a cold is surely contagious for Chaeyoung to be sitting that close to Jeongyeon. However, she can’t help but feel envious watching the special relationship and strong bond her two neighbors share.

 

-

 

Mina leaves after lunch, and Chaeyoung opts to skip her afternoon classes to take care of Jeongyeon. She doesn’t turn the lights on when she helps her eat her lunch, nor does she open the curtains; the only source of light being a scented candle she has lit to soothe the older girl’s senses.

 

She manoeuvres her way around the room, picking up the meds to put in the fridge, and collecting the empty food bowls, before she sits back on the edge of Jeongyeon’s bed. The orange hues coming from the candle highlight the blonde’s features in a way Chaeyoung has never taken notice of before.

The older girl looks ethereal under the faded light, despite being sick and not in her best shape.

She has her eyes closed, lips parted, filling the room with the sound of her soft breath.

 

“I’m not dying,” Jeongyeon croaks out, taking Chaeyoung, who thought she has already fallen asleep, by surprise.

“I know.”

“Then why are you staring at me like that?”

“Like what?”

 

Jeongyeon’s eyes flutter open, and she cracks a weak smile, before pointing, “like that.”

 

-

 

The car honks vex Chaeyoung to no end. She clenches her fists, trying her best not to lash out at the annoying, probably gross, man trying to get her attention. _On the day I’ve forgotten my earphones out of all days._

 

“We don’t have the entire day!” A familiar voice calls out, and she turns around, her eyes meeting the shit-eating grin of her best friend.

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes, as the vehicle stops right beside her. Jeongyeon hops off, takes a turn around the car, and opens the door to the passenger seat.

“After you, princess,” she smugly says, playing gentlewoman all of a sudden. Chaeyoung playfully smacks her on the arm before she gets in.

 

Jeongyeon runs back to the driver’s seat, still smiling.

“Seatbelts!” She demands, fastening her own. She starts the engine, takes one look at the rearview mirror, before speeding off.

 

“What are you doing with your sister’s car?” Chaeyoung finally asks.

“She owes me, so I’ve decided she pays me back by lending me her car.”

“And where are we going?”

 

Jeongyeon seems to ponder on the question of a moment, as she switches lanes to take a left turn.

“Anywhere we want. We can drive to the end of the world if we want to.”

“Aren’t gas prices a bit too high for that?” Chaeyoung comments, looking out of the window.

“Thank you for ruining the moment, miss Son.”

She just snickers.

 

Chaeyoung thinks that if the world is ending, she doesn’t mind having Jeongyeon drive them to their final destination. In fact, she wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

 

She grabs the aux cord, and plugs her phone. Hozier’s Jackie and Wilson blasts through the speakers moments later, and Chaeyoung screams “road trip!” before she sticks her head out of the window, letting the wind make a mess out of her hair.

 

They reach the highway right before the chorus, and Chaeyoung sits back, her hair is all-over the place, her cheeks are flushed red. She takes one glance at her best friend, a wide smile plastered on her face, and she smiles too. Then it hits and the younger girl is singing at the top of her lungs, “ _she’s gonna save me, call me baby, run her hands through my hair-_ ”

Jeongyeon’s voice cuts right in time, “ _she’ll know me crazy, soothe me daily, better yet she wouldn’t care-_ ”

She looks at her, still high on the rush of adrenaline, and they sing together, their voices matching like the pieces of a two-piece-puzzle, “ _we’ll steal her Lexus, be detectives, ride ‘round picking up clues, we’ll name our children Jackie and Wilson, raise ‘em on rhythm and blues.._ ”

 

Their giggles get mixed with the second verse, and Chaeyoung feels the most alive she has felt in years. They belt out the rest of the song as Jeongyeon speeds off out of the city and into the blue.

 

In the little silence that fills the car after the song is over, the youngest of the two turns to her friend with a pout. And although Jeongyeon isn’t looking, she could feel the girl’s pout pierce right through her heart.

“What?”

“We didn’t buy any road-trip snacks!” She whines, kicking her feet in the little space the passenger seat offers. Her voice is soft, almost gets muffled with the next song as it starts.

Jeongyeon rolls her eyes, turning the volume down, “you have no faith in me, do you?” She asks, the smug smirk back on her lips.

She signals to the backseat, and in her peripheral vision, she sees Chaeyoung’s entire face light up with a beam. She almost jumps at Jeongyeon with a killer hug, if not for the sake of staying alive. She clasps her hands together, and her voice goes a pitch higher when she squeals, “you got me my favorite candies!”

“Your favorite drinks too,” the driver adds with a snobbish tone.

 

Chaeyoung reaches to the grocery bags with her short limbs. She hums to the song playing as she scavenges through the pile of snacks, grabbing the bag of sour cream potato chips. Her mouth is full when she asks, once again, “where are we going?”

 

Jeongyeon doesn’t answer, turning the volume up instead, and the question gets forgotten in the melody ringing through the car's speakers. Chaeyoung swallows fast to resume her singing, throwing her hands up, as she raps, “ _love has either got you over heels, or overdosed..”_

She goes on ‘til the rap part is over, before she shoves another handful of chips into her mouth. She feeds Jeongyeon a couple, every now and then, and Jeongyeon moans in pleasure.

 

They take a right turn, exiting the highway, and as they cross the bridge, Get Lucky’s first strings hit, hyping up both girls, and again drowning any questions the passenger has left stored for her driver. She abandons the bag of chips to sing along the song.

“This is _the_ gay anthem!”

Jeongyeon laughs, nodding in agreement.

 

She takes one more turn off the main road, down a worn-out dusty path, and Jeongyeon expects a full, elaborated investigation from the small girl occupying her passenger seat. But nothing comes out.

There’s a slight shift in mood, albeit still warm, and the blonde glances at her right, her features softening, and her eyes lingering a tad too long on the figure of the girl looking out of the window. The song playing is gentle, adding a sense of comfort to the atmosphere filling the car, and Jeongyeon feels her heart leap in her chest, before breaking into a slow-paced dance. She looks at Chaeyoung’s hand, carelessly resting on her lap, and for a brief moment thinks of holding it in hers, intertwining their fingers.

 

-

 

“We’re here,” the driver announces tenderly, smiling with fondness when she gets no answer; Chaeyoung has drifted to sleep.

She parks the car, before getting off to unload the backseat and the trunk. It takes her a while to finish the task she has in hand, and she giggles silently when nothing seems to stir the heavy sleeper awake.

She leans against the car, adjusting her hat and opting to wait for the girl a bit more before waking her up.

Her eyes travel down the horizon, and the peace filling her insides with every breath she intakes makes her wish for the moment to last forever: Chaeyoung, the nature, and her, away from the rest of the world.

 

Chaeyoung sleeps for another twenty minutes, and when Jeongyeon’s legs start giving up on her, she feels a pair of eyes boring holes in the back of her head. She glances back, meeting her best friend’s hazy gaze. She scurries to open the door, helping the sleepy girl unbuckle her seatbelt, and for some odd reason, the younger’s warm breath hitting her bare neck sends shivers down her spine. She stands up straight, almost hitting the top of her head in the process, but she doesn’t ponder on it as she strips out of her jacket to wrap it around Chaeyoung’s shoulders.

“It’s chilly and you’ve been sleeping for a while,” she reasons.

 

Chaeyoung gives her a grateful smile, stretching in her place. She clings to the older girl, and looks around, taking in the view surrounding them.

Still not fully awake from her slumber, Chaeyoung rests her head against the older girl’s shoulder, as they walk towards to front door of the villa.

“We’re in your family’s farm,” She mutters in recognition, earning a hum as a response.

“I’ve been promising to bring you here since high school.”

“I thought you’ve forgotten about that.”

“I keep my promises, Chaengie..” Jeongyeon mumbles against Chaeyoung’s short locks, before pressing a kiss to the shorter girl’s crown.

The action is nothing that hasn’t occurred before, however, the feelings unconsciously blooming in their chests color their cheeks shades of pink.

 

_Jeongyeon has bragged about the big farm her family owns a lot in middle school, often promising Chaeyoung that she’ll take her over one day._

 

“I think _one day_ has finally come,” the younger girl lets go of Jeongyeon once inside the big house, and her eyes roam the spacious place.

“You never said it was this big. I’d spend weeks here-” she trails off, catching a glimpse of the luggage in the middle of the living room.

She turns around to look at her best friend, who’s busy arranging some stuff in the kitchen.

 

“Explain,” she commands, trying to sound stern despite the giddiness filling her chest.

“Maybe not weeks, but we’ll stay a couple of days here,” Jeongyeon shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly, trying her best to look cool. “We’ll say you got kidnapped, and I’ve been busy looking for you; that, if you’re worried about our jobs; otherwise, you’ve been killing yourself over uni and you, and I, both deserve a break.”

 

Chaeyoung skips to where Jeongyeon is, wrapping her arms around her waist and bouncing in exhilaration.

“This is perfect!” She pants out, running out of breath. “I love you so much, oh my god!” Chaeyoung says one more time before burying her head in the taller girl’s chest. Soft giggles fill the kitchen, as Jeongyeon holds Chaeyoung between her arms, neither of them pulling away.

 

She sighs in content, knowing that she has succeeded in cheering the younger girl up with her surprise trip to their house in the countryside.

 

-

 

Chaeyoung takes over the task of arranging the grocery, and Jeongyeon tends to the baggage in the living room.

She stands in the hallway, staring at the closed doors of the bedrooms. She considers in which they would sleep, and which view Chaeyoung would prefer waking up to. A thought presents itself, but the blonde shakes it off, reckoning that Chaeyoung would rather sleep alone.

She deposits the younger girl’s luggage in the room with a balcony opening onto the full view of the backyard, and a stream that has been running through the wide green land since Jeongyeon remembers. The sun doesn’t reach the room until late morning, and the older girl thinks that Chaeyoung would appreciate that.

She puts her belongings in the opposite room, telling herself that she’ll wake up for the sunrise.

 

She hears Chaeyoung snicker as she descends the stairs, and she smiles.

 

“I see you got to the stock of cup noodles I’ve bought,” she comments, walking into the kitchen.

“You never fail to amaze me, Yoo Jeongyeon.”

“I try. We’ll eventually get too lazy to cook, and I’d rather we don’t starve to death.” She hops onto the counter, and watches Chaeyoung go over the last few items: cereal, coffee beans, sugar..

 

-

 

She shows her around the mansion, finally ushering her to the room she’ll be staying in, and she watches with a soft grin as Chaeyoung bounces to the balcony, gaping in awe at the splendid view.

Jeongyeon leaves after a minute of standing in the doorway, letting Chaeyoung unpack and rest.

 

She puts on her jacket and heads out. She carefully wiggles her way on top of the hood of her sister’s car. Laying against the windshield, she grabs a cigarette and tucks it between her lips. Lighting it up, she takes a long drag, and exhales. She sighs, watching the thin cloud of smoke turn into thin air. She stares at the clouds decorating the evening sky, spotting different shapes, a whole new dimension. She smiles faintly, her mind bringing back memories from years ago, during summer camp, when she used to lay down on the grass, every evening, with Chaeyoung, and gaze at the sky, pointing out all the things the white clouds resemble, or remind them of.

 

Chaeyoung.

 

Jeongyeon sighs again, eyes flickering to the mansion for a second, and back to the sky. She inhales, exhales, watches the smoke fly up into the sky.

 

She’s been mulling over it for a while, the misery her heart is putting her in, ever since the weekend she spent in her parents house. The realization hit her like a train, and left her in a wreck. Her first reaction was to laugh, and she laughed, on her bed, at three in the morning, as she stared at the glow in the dark stars filling her room’s ceiling. She laughed until her sister texted her to shut up. Squinting at the bright screen of the phone clutched in her hand, her first tears rolled down, hot against the cold of her cheeks. She can not; no, she can’t be in love with her best friend. She cried herself to sleep.

 

-

 

She’s on her fourth cigarette, the sun has set, and darkness started crawling onto the farm, when Chaeyoung calls for her. She jumps off the hood, throwing the white stick on the ground before stomping on it, and heading into the now lit house.

 

“You took another nap?” She asks, catching Chaeyoung in the middle of a yawn. The younger girl nods with a sheepish smile.

“And you’ve been smoking, again.”

Jeongyeon ignores the comment, walking to the fridge to grab a yogurt bottle.

“You must’ve been a cat in your previous life, Son Chaeyoung.”

“Can I have one?” Chaeyoung’s voice coming from right behind her ear startles her, and she almost hits her head against the fridge’s door.

“A cat?” The taller girl asks genuinely, earning a giggle.

“Yogurt.”

The younger girl smiles like a kid in a candy shop when Jeongyeon doesn’t protest, handing her a strawberry flavored yogurt bottle.

 

She sits on a stool, swaying her legs that don’t reach the ground, as she slurps on the dairy product.

 

“What are we having for dinner?” She asks, her eyes trained on her best friend’s back. Jeongyeon is busy scanning the objects in one of the cabinets, tiptoeing a little to get a hold of a jar from the far back.

 

“I’m thinking chicken soup,” the older girl answers without looking at her.

Chaeyoung stares at her blonde hair, pulled up in a cute tiny ponytail. Her eyes trail down the line of her neck to her broad shoulders. They go further down her back, and settle on the girl’s waistline. She feels a sudden urge to drape her arms around the older’s body and rest her head against her back, between her shoulder blades. She has always felt safe standing behind the taller one, ever since they were kids, when Jeongyeon used to step in and pull her away from her childish fights, pushing her to stand behind her as she shoos away the other kids still asking for a beating.

 

“Earth to Chaeyoung?” Jeongyeon’s teasing tone anchors her down, and she looks up from her yogurt.

“Aight cap’n!”

“Has the ship landed on Venus safely?”

“Yes, cap’n!”

“And what exactly has our little astronaut been smiling dumbly at for the past five minutes?” Jeongyeon teases, and Chaeyoung whines.

“Nostalgia city, sir!” She answers anyways.

 

-

 

Jeongyeon insists that she cooks alone as long as Chaeyoung washes the dishes, and knowing how stubborn her best friend is, Chaeyoung doesn’t try to negotiate. Instead, she grabs her sketchbook and immerses herself in drawing.

They work in silence, comfortable silence that both appreciate.

They sit around the counter once the dinner is ready. Chaeyoung moans in pleasure after her first bite, drawing a proud smile on Jeongyeon’s face. She makes a mental note to sketch a proud Jeongyeon the next time she draws a portrait of the older girl.

“You never disappoint, Jeong!” Chaeyoung compliments, giving her two thumbs up.

Jeongyeon, having finished eating, leans against the counter, looking at the girl facing her.

“I mean, I’m a culinary student working part-time at a restaurant; this is nothing.” She dismisses the compliment lazily.

“It is something for me. You know my ideal type is basically someone who cooks good and ticks my humour code.”

“So, _basically_ , me.” The blonde points out with a joking tone, pushing down the emotions that threaten to emerge, how much she wishes it would be her.

Chaeyoung peers into her eyes, a tender smile tugging at the corners of her lips, a warm feeling tugging at the bottom of her heart.

Jeongyeon feels her cheeks heating up, but she doesn’t break eye contact.

“But I’d have to tiptoe to kiss you, and that is not on the list of the characteristics of my ideal type.” She replies, innocence laced with her words.

Jeongyeon stands up, hands working to clean off the countertop, depositing dirty dishes in the sink.

“Then maybe you should add it.”

 

* * *

 

-

 

She wraps a blanket around Chaeyoung, covering half of her face in the process, and she chuckles.

Having finished their tasks, they grabbed a couple of beers, three blankets, and decided to sit out on the porch.

“It used to be my favorite thing ever, along with taking care of the animals we used to have,” Jeongyeon mentions offhandedly, “stargazing, I mean. It’s so different from the city. It’s magical here.”

 

They step outside, the moon making up for the lack of artificial light, and Chaeyoung feels a sense of serenity sweep over her. She stands in the middle of the backyard, staring into the moonlit landscape, as Jeongyeon lays down the spare blanket.

“It’s a half moon tonight,” she hears the older girl comment, and looks up.

The gasp leaving her lips makes the older girl look at her. She’s staring up at the sky, taking in the mesmerizing scenery with admiration.

“It’s..out of this world. So beautiful.” She comments, her eyes never looking away from the night sky.

“It is.” Jeongyeon approves, her eyes never looking away from her.

 

-

 

The chilly night breeze makes them shiver, but their intoxicated bodies and their tranquil state of mind reject the idea of heading in and calling it a day.

 

Jeongyeon is lying on her back, looking up at the sky, when Chaeyoung’s warm and inebriated breath tickles her cheeks. She tears her eyes away from the heaven above to glance at the heaven at her side.

 

She beams at the younger girl, who’s laying on her stomach, her head resting on her hands, staring at her with a delicate smile.

 

“Yes?” She coaxes, losing the last bit of sobriety in Chaeyoung’s eyes.

“You know how I..I..said..that this night sky is..t-the, most beautiful scene I’ve ever had..the h-honour to witness?” The younger girl stutters, but Jeongyeon doesn’t poke fun of it, and nods to prompt the girl to keep going.

“I lied.” She adds, pauses, takes a deep shuddering breath.

Jeongyeon finds herself reaching for Chaeyoung’s hair, her fingers stroking her short brown locks with so much affection.

“Then what is it, the most beautiful scene you’ve ever seen?” She asks gently, as if afraid her words would break Chaeyoung.

The younger girl unwinds under her touch, and she takes another breath, looking intently into Jeongyeon’s brown orbs.

“You are.” She whispers, as if confessing to a sin that brought down shame and indignity on the human race.

 

Jeongyeon stares at her, eyes glazed with unshed tears, and Chaeyoung is ready to get on her feet and walk back to their shared apartment in that ungodly hour.

She opens her mouth to apologize, or say anything to fix it, if it’s still not beyond fixing, but the words die down when she feels Jeongyeon’s lips grazing hers with the chastest kiss.

 

-

 

“Your eyes are my perpetual moon,” Chaeyoung murmurs, looking up at Jeongyeon from where she’s snuggled between her arms.

Jeongyeon groans, slightly kicking her feet in the air, “ugh, Son Chaeyoung. I’m so in love with you.”


End file.
